The Little White Race

The third edition of the Little White Salmon Race hosted by World Class Kayak Academy took place last Sunday on the mighty Little White Salmon in Washington. With 59 racers the event just keeps getting bigger and bigger, and the big amount of locals boaters that know the run to perfection makes for a pretty competitive race.

The Ldub as locals call is a kayakers paradise. Being close to town and with good water levels almost year round it’s no doubt one of the best runs in the world. 

Everyone gathered on Saturday evening for the race meeting plus a nice barbecue in Hood River. Everything started early on Sunday, and after safety and timers were ready and in place the race kicked off. The race started at Getting Busy and after 15-16 minutes of paddling awesome whitewater the race ended at Wishbone, a clean 20ft waterfall similar to the Champions Killer at the adidas Sickline race.

The race is pretty long and there are many many rapids and lines to remember. After a few laps I was able to remember many of the lines and I was stoked not to get lost anywhere during the race. I had a good run but still managed to go off line a bunch of times and hit a few rocks and holes that slowed me down a lot…

Once the downriver race was finished everyone floated downstream to the Spirit, where the slalom event took place. It was the first year they did the slalom there, but no doubt it won’t be the last.

With many spectators on the banks racers paddled off the Spirit and completed a four gates course ending below Chaos. The Slalom event was a great success and everyone enjoyed the show.

After the slalom we all floated down to the take out and drove to Hood River for the awards, dinner and party. We ate a big roasted pork and then the award ceremony took place. I was stoked to come out on a second place just ahead of Louis Geltman in third and quite a bit behind Evan Garcia. A big party followed up next all over Hood River till early morning… pretty savage too!

Overall a pretty sick weekend, racing one of the best rivers in the world with some great kayakers, good weather and surrounded by amazing people and scenery. Stoked to have made it here and thanks to everyone who helped out to put this thing together! Big shout out to Capo for organizing this and keeping it going! Definitely one of the best events going on right now and will try to come back next year! 

 Pics by: Alícia Casas, Joe Kemper, Sarah Caracciolo, NRS and Trevor Lyden.